How to get the file ID to download a specific file from the Google Drive API on Android?

Other Questions Google drive
1

I am currently developing an Android application that utilizes the Google Drive API. While I managed to implement most features, I’m having trouble figuring out how to retrieve the specific file ID necessary for downloading.

So far, I’ve been able to list all files available in my Drive and have stored them in an array list. I tested the download by using the ID of the first file in that list. When I input this ID directly into my download function, it works without any problems.

However, I am unsure how to obtain the ID for a particular file that I want to download. I have included my current implementation below:

private void downloadFileRegion() {
    Thread myThread = new Thread(new Runnable() {
        @Override
        public void run() {
            try {
                com.google.api.services.drive.model.File fileDetails = service.files().get("0B-Iak7O9SfIpYk9zTjZvY2xreVU").execute();
                
                if (fileDetails.getDownloadUrl() != null && fileDetails.getDownloadUrl().length() > 0) {
                    HttpResponse httpResponse = service.getRequestFactory().buildGetRequest(new GenericUrl(fileDetails.getDownloadUrl())).execute();
                    InputStream myInputStream = httpResponse.getContent();
                    saveToFile(myInputStream);
                }
            } catch (IOException e) {
                Log.e("DownloadError", e.toString());
                e.printStackTrace();
            }
        }
    });
    myThread.start();
}

The ID that I used, 0B-Iak7O9SfIpYk9zTjZvY2xreVU, worked for testing but I need to be able to dynamically retrieve the ID for a specific file named ‘File_1’ that I want to download.

Ultimately, my goal is to upload an XML file to Google Drive with my app and later be able to download that exact file. It’s always going to be the same file name, so I would like to know if there’s a more effective way to achieve this.

2

since you know the filename (‘File_1’), just search for it with the q parameter: service.files().list().setQ("name='File_1'").execute() then grab the file ID from the results. way easier than looping through everything.

3

Your code has a much simpler fix than what others suggested. Skip the name searches - just grab the file ID when you upload and store it. The upload response gives you the file ID anyway, so save it in SharedPreferences or your database. Then you can download directly without any search queries, which makes everything way faster. If you really need to search every time, the query method works but you’re making extra API calls for no reason.

4

You can filter files during the listing operation instead of grabbing everything and searching through it. Just modify your list query with a filter parameter like FileList result = service.files().list().setQ("name='File_1'").execute(); - this only returns files matching that name. Since you said it’s always the same filename, just grab the ID from the first result. Way more efficient than downloading the entire file list every time. Don’t forget to check if the result list is empty before trying to access the file ID, in case the file doesn’t exist.